breathing fire
by Aleas
Summary: Ember Island wasn't always fun and games when Zuko was young. Let's just say Azula wasn't a very nice kid. It doesn't help that Zuko always seemed to believe her lies. Now he comes back years later, but its not Azula that's with him anymore. For Zutara Week 2016 - Day 1, Dragons.


**Hello everyone! I realized something was wrong with the doc (thank you for the person who told me this!) so here is the reupload. Now you can actually read this, so I hope you enjoy xx. This is me and my friend Miki's Day 1 entry for Zutara Week 2016. The theme is Dragons. Anyways, hope you like it! Love,**

 **-2 noobs**

 **breathing fire**

"There's dragons under the bed, Zuko."

Zuko cowered underneath his bedcovers while Azula taunted him mercilessly. "How do you know?" He says accusingly, though his heart beat faster than a rabbits.

"I saw them." Azula harped. "They breathe fire and eat children that look under the bed." Azula made to bend down and peek under, but Zuko screamed at her to stop.

Azula stood back up, smirking. "Thank Agni. I thought I heard one roar when I got close."

Zuko shook his head. Why was he like this? He is older than Azula. And Azula always lies. "You're lying." He said what he thought.

"It's dark underneath the bed." Azula says in a sing-song voice. "Plenty of space for a dragon to hide."

Zuko dove back underneath the duvet and buried his face into the pillow. Azula laughed and swaggered out of the room. Zuko detached his face from the surface of his pillowcase and realized that his pillowcase was soaking with his sweet. He lifted his feet out of the tent formed by the duvet and the mattress and set them down on top of the red-and-gold laced fabric, feeling a cold blast of wind rush over them.

Zuko peered down to the edge of the bed frame, and saw a huge plane of black. He jerked his head back up. He felt his heart jump even though he lay staring at the ceiling, lying on his back staring at the top of his draped bed. Underneath he heard the dragons rumble.

Zuko collapsed onto his bed and made an "oof" sound when someone else collapsed on top of him. "Katara!" He protested, pushing the laughing waterbender off his stinging stomach.

"You should have seen the look on your face!" Katara guffawed. "The Fire Lord, getting jumped on by a waterbender!"

They were at the Ember Islands, and Aang, Sokka, Suki and Toph were all still walking around the island, looking around. Katara had been curious about the summer home, so Zuko volunteered to give her a tour. Now they were in his old room, and Katara had attacked Zuko, bowling him over onto his old bed. Katara pushed herself up, and knelt next to Zuko, smiling brightly at him. Zuko allowed her one glimpse of a grin.

"This is one big bed for a kid." Katara commented dryly, arching an eyebrow at Zuko. "This was the size of my mom and dads bed when I was a child."

"My father had a kind of go big or go home kind of idea around this entire palace. We barely used any of the rooms in the East Wing. They were there to impress, I think."

Katara bounced up and down on the springy mattress. "And not to mention, very comfortable here too."

"That's the Royal Fire Nation family summer home for you then."

Katara lay back onto the bed, so that her head came to rest by Zuko's hand. She looked up at him with big blue eyes.

"Did you like it here?"

"Would you?"

"Very much, actually. All these trees and nice things to sleep on. All these great things to do." Katara said, like it was the most obvious thing on Earth.

"I don't know. Azula never failed in freaking me out about this place. She said it was called Ember Island because the dragons burnt it to embers."

"Dragons?" Katara snorted. "Dragons can't burn islands to embers."

"I was young and gullible, Katara." Zuko grumbled. "A kid doesn't know that much about dragons just like that."

"You were, actually," said Katara thoughtfully.

"Thanks. I didn't need you to confirm it."

"And what about these dragons?"

Zuko blushed at this. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, so his arm was stuck straight up into the air behind his head.

"Uhh, well, she might have told me that they lived under my, this, bed." Zuko managed to get out before Katara burst into peals of laughter.

"And you believed her?"

"Well…not exactly…"

"So you did think there were dragons under the bed!" Katara sat straight up again, and was slapping her knee in her amusement. "You never fail to amaze me, great and powerful Fire Lord!"

Zuko pursed his lips. "Like I said, I was just a kid."

Katara was now leaning over the side of the bed, so her legs were stuck up in the air and half her body dangled perpendicular to the floor. She peered underneath the bed. She hauled herself up after a few seconds. Zuko blushed deeper when she looked at him with such merriment it was hard to believe he had caused it.

"No dragons." Katara said, letting out a fake gasp. "How could that be?"

Zuko swallowed his embarrassment. "They ran away, because they didn't want to be here for what comes next." He said as he tackled her. Katara yelped and hooked her arms around his neck. Zuko heard her laughter rumble from deep within her chest, the laughter break from his lips, and felt her arms pull him closer in.

 **I realized that a lot of my fanfics end like this. I'm too cliche. Hope you enjoyed it xx**

 **-2 noobs**


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